Hey all! Checking in from San Diego. nice to see a kitchen knife dedicated forum :)
got into knives when i was about 7 or 8 and have been hooked since. since then i spent a little time in a kitchen doing prep and some line cooking but the place was so micromanaged that it felt more like assembly-line work than cooking. I didn't get into kitchen knives until a couple years ago, i had whetstones for sharpening tools in the garage (mostly king) and brought them into the house to sharpen a roommates kitchen knife. When i realized that kitchen knives are the knives I use the most often I started picking up kitchen knives at thrift shops and garage sales to practice sharpening, keeping the ones i liked best and giving away or selling the rest. After much research I finally picked up my first Japanese knife, a 240mm Carbonext gyuto. Nothing fancy, but it's mine :)
I have done some metal fabrication work in the past, nothing major but as a result I tried my hand at knife making via stock removal and came up with some halfway decent hunting knives. recently I decided I might want to try making a kitchen knife or two, so I might be seeking advice in the near future. I've rehandled knives in the past, but only a couple kitchen knives.
anyway, that's pretty much my life story when it comes to knives. forgive the grammar and punctuation, baby sleeping in one arm :)

Dave Martell

03-08-2011, 10:52 PM

Welcome! There's lots of knowledgeable people here willing to share so please don't be shy, ask those questions that need answering. I hope to see pictures of knives you make in the future.

Tinkerer

03-09-2011, 12:38 PM

I have found very usable knives in thrift stores that need some TLC. Forschner, TwinAA, Henckels, Dexter, etc. and I have my prized antique Case XX butcher knife that I also got at a thrift store. It is nice to know that there are others that share this train of thought.

I do lots of food prep for Emmaus walks and other church functions such as slicing the turkeys and hams for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Yes, I carry my own knives. I also take some knives that I bought and reconditioned from yard sales and thrift stores. Most folks that I work with have never had the pleasure of working with a really sharp knife. When they do, they are amazed! They are even more amazed when I ask them if they really like the knife and tell them to take it home with them when they say, "Yes." I just tell them that there are more where that one came from. I also give them a sharpening service business card. I know .... advertising at a church function? I always advertise.

cannibal

03-10-2011, 12:58 PM

Thanks for the welcome Dave, will post pictures as soon as i start the project!

Tinkerer: It's amazing sometimes the things people will get rid of. I do it more for a repurposing/recycling standpoint, i also seek out the county maintenance when they have a felled tree or materials they're just going to scrap so I can use as lumber or find a home for it. Same goes for junk yards and metal scraps. It's kind of sad how much usable material is discarded